


Sherlock Protecting John

by wellthengameover



Series: Sherlock Meta [4]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Character Analysis, Episode: s01e03 The Great Game, Episode: s02e03 The Reichenbach Fall, Episode: s03e03 His Last Vow, Lying Sherlock, Meta, Other, Sherlock Meta, TJLC | The Johnlock Conspiracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 23:35:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5225498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wellthengameover/pseuds/wellthengameover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s a very common romantic trope about the Hero protecting the Beloved. Not letting the Beloved be an equal partner who takes equal risks. There’s obviously a big problem with this - and instead of embracing this trope, as apparently most people think, I think Mofftisson have taken this trope and turned it on its head and said “This doesn’t work. You can’t do this.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sherlock Protecting John

When people complain about Sherlock shutting John out and lying to him to protect him and how this is so problematic, I really think they’re missing the point. It’s supposed to be problematic. It’s not supposed to be ideal. This is a weakness Sherlock is overcoming. Or alternatively, when people say that Sherlock has given John everything in S3 so John should be with him, I think they’re missing the point there, too. Sherlock has been very selfless about John in S3, but it hasn’t stopped him lying to John to protect him, and that isn’t good or even okay.

It’s most notable when Sherlock deals with Jim (or Mary - as she’s Moran, that’s connected to Jim). He lies to John in TGG so he can meet Jim alone so John won’t be in danger; he lies to John in TRF so John won’t be sniped; he lies to John in HLV about Mary so John will go back to Mary and she won’t kill him.

There’s a very common romantic trope about the Hero protecting the Beloved. Not letting the Beloved be an equal partner who takes equal risks. There’s obviously a big problem with this - and instead of embracing this trope, as apparently most people think, I think Mofftisson have taken this trope and turned it on its head and said _“This doesn’t work. You can’t do this.”_

 **Every time Sherlock lies to protect John, leaves him out, etc., it works for the immediate moment: John doesn’t die. _But it invariably leads to something else worse happening._ ** Not that this new bad thing is Sherlock’s fault - it’s always the villains’ fault - but that it probably wouldn’t have happened if Sherlock hadn’t left John out:

  1. Sherlock gets rid of John so he can meet Jim alone at the pool >> John gets kidnapped and used as a hostage against him
  2. Sherlock fakes his death so that John won’t get sniped and takes out Jim’s network so that John will be safe >> Sebastian Moran marries John
  3. Sherlock tells John he can trust Mary and doesn’t tell him she worked for Jim >> we don’t know what the consequences of this will be, but I really don’t think they’re going to be anything good 



**Sherlock lies and does these things to protect John - and they _do_ protect John, which is good - but they always also backfire into something worse. This is a story. Mofftisson have complete control over what happens. If they wanted to show Sherlock lying to John to protect him as a good trait of Sherlock’s, they wouldn’t have it consistently result in bad things.**

And Sherlock leaving him out is what John is really upset about from Reichenbach - _even after he knows it was to protect him:_

John wrote that on his blog. John doesn’t say “he left me to grieve;” he doesn’t say “he thought Moriarty’s network was more important than his friends;” _he says “he didn’t trust me.”_ **John would rather have had Sherlock risk his (John’s) life by telling him Sherlock was still alive than protect him by leaving him out.** Which is exactly what I’ve always thought John thinks because otherwise they’re not partners; John is just Sherlock’s sidekick.

Lying to John, leaving him out, etc. is a weakness Sherlock is overcoming. He’s improving. In HLV, he’s already done more than he did in TRF to bring John in. Sherlock’s taking steps, not going cold-turkey - which makes perfect sense. He did the Empty House Reveal after he realized Mary was Moran. He told John some things, which was more than he did in TRF: in TRF, when John would ask him things, Sherlock would just tell him he wasn’t going to tell him:

Now, in HLV, he’s telling John a minimum of information - but still certainly not even close to everything. Sherlock didn’t tell John that Mary worked for Jim, that she meant to kill him, or that he doesn’t trust her. He had an opportunity to after the Empty House Reveal, but he didn’t.

I cannot possibly imagine that lying to John about _John’s own wife_ will play out well for Sherlock. And in my opinion, these consequences are going to be one of the last things that makes Sherlock realize that he can’t shut John out anymore.

> _[Season 4] is going to be… I suppose you’d say… consequences … [T]here’s a sense of… things… coming back to bite you._ \- Steven Moffat ([x](http://%5BSeason%204%5D%20is%20going%20to%20be%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%A6%20I%20suppose%20you%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99d%20say%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%A6%20consequences%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%A6%20%5BT%5Dhere%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20a%20sense%20of%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%A6%20things%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%A6%20coming%20back%20to%20bite%20you.%20It%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20not%20a%20safe,%20sensible%20way%20to%20live.)) _  
> _

I think some of these long-term consequences of lying about Mary to John will include: [John being shot and seriously injured by Mary; John temporarily leaving Sherlock](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/96502039387/the-season-four-finale-the-three-garridebs-much); and [the baby being killed](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/96243001107/baby-watson-killed-in-the-season-four-finale).

I also think that [Sherlock is going to finally understand this lying-to-someone-to-protect-them situation from the other side (John’s side) when he finds out Mycroft has been under Jim’s thumb the whole time](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/108772888767/5x1-mycroft-dies-lord-moran-returns-reichenbach).

Sherlock’s done so much for John: starting with TRF, then planning the wedding, then protecting him from Mary, then killing CAM for him. **But the majority of those things were not things that John wanted Sherlock to do for him.** John would rather Sherlock stop doing things for him and start telling him what’s going on so they can do things together. (Even though John doesn’t know Sherlock is doing stuff for him except TRF.)

By the time that we come to the end of the show and the final showdown with Jim, I believe that John and Sherlock will be completely working together. In fact, I believe that [Mofftisson have set up the story so that Sherlock _cannot_ defeat Jim and get together with John (which is really the same thing) until he stops leaving John out or lying to protect him](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/post/102047149496/parallels-between-jim-and-the-cabbie-from-asip).

**Author's Note:**

> Transcribed from [my meta blog on tumblr](http://wellthengameover.tumblr.com/my-sherlock-meta). Much more there.


End file.
